I wanted to alert you to the following conference which will be of great
interest to academics who want to better understand how digital media are
impacting the forms of culture they are studying. I hope I will see many of
you in this delightful New England sea town for an important exchange about
the future of our culture.

1999 Camden Technology Conference
Pop!Tech: Popular Culture in the Digital Age

When: Oct. 22-24, 1999
Where: Camden, Maine

The Core Concept: Popular culture has always been a pervasive force in our
society. In a very real way, it is the battlefield on which we are fighting
the great issues of our time, in politics, religion, ethics, values. Now,
popular culture has merged with an immensely powerful new force, a magnifier
of every medium: digital technology. The result is pop!tech, an
unprecedented phenomenon. What does this mean for our society today and
tomorrow? Can we -- should we -- attempt to guide or control Pop!Tech, and,
if so, how? Pop!Tech's growing momentum is visible in movies, television,
music, advertising, publishing, radio, in fact in all the mass media. It is
the very foundation of our newest medium, cyberspace. All this raises a
number of important questions for every thoughtful person, and answering
these questions will be the main goal of our conference.